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Bell Canada's Venezuela Unit
Secures Two Wireless Licenses

Dow Jones Newswires

Updated Dec. 19, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

CARACAS, Venezuela --
Bell Canada
's 22%-owned Genesis Telecommunications subsidiary won two out of five Wireless Local Loop, or WLL, licenses it's seeking for a total of $1.26 million, said a representative at the Caracas Stock Exchange, where the auction was being held.

Genesis took regions two and five for $860,000 and $400,000 respectively. It is leading the bidding with $13 million for region 1, which includes this capital city and is Venezuela's most populous.

Venezuela's Telecom Market Opens Up to Competition (Nov. 28)

Bellsouth Corp.
subsidiary Telcel C.A. continued to dominate the bidding for region 3, the only one for which it doesn't already have a license, and ended at $4 million.

For region 4, locally owned Digicel C.A. was leading with a $500,000.

Bidding will continue Tuesday for regions 1, 3 and 4.

WLL technology allows companies to set up basic telephony services using radio communications, eliminating the need to install local land lines.

Ten companies registered to bid on WLL licenses and will compete for basic telephony business with CA
Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela
, which surrendered its monopoly in the sector Nov. 27.